


Keeping Secrets

by shanachie



Series: holiday fic 2015 [6]
Category: NCIS: Los Angeles
Genre: All the other warnings give plot points away, Deeks has secrets, Deeks is a warning all on his own, F/M, Kensi always finds out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-30
Updated: 2015-12-30
Packaged: 2018-05-10 10:37:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5582455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shanachie/pseuds/shanachie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Deeks has been keeping a secret from Kensi and it’s about it be blown wide open.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Keeping Secrets

**Author's Note:**

  * For [k3nj1ph1](https://archiveofourown.org/users/k3nj1ph1/gifts).



> Thanks to illfindmyway for her betaing. I’d be lost without her. I can’t remember exactly what sparked this, but it was amusing to imagine them in this position. At this point I have no plans to continue the idea, but who knows.
> 
>  **Disclaimer:** No one recognizable belongs to me. Not making any money off this.  
>  **Second Disclaimer** Despite being fanfiction, this is MY work and I do not give anyone or any other site permission to republish this story under my name or any other without my authorization.  
> 

“A callout?” Kensi asked sleepily as Deeks rolled over in bed to grab the ringing cell phone. “Didn’t we just go to sleep?” she continued as he squinted at the readout.

“It’s not a callout,” he answered. “Hey,” he said into the phone. “What?”

Kensi frowned as he was quiet for what seemed like an inordinately long amount of time. Finally he said, “Yeah. Okay. I can be there in about an hour. Just… I’ll be there.”

“Do we need to go in?” Kensi asked as he got out of bed.

He startled as he reached for his jeans as if he’d forgotten she was awake. “No. Um. No. Sorry. It wasn’t… it wasn’t the office. It was… LAPD.”

“Why is LAPD calling you?” She sat up, tugging at the blankets until they were sitting more comfortably. “I thought you were under investigation.”

“I am, but…” He paused. “It’s an old case. I just need to… verify a couple of things.”

“Do you want me to go with you?”

“No, it’s fine. I shouldn’t be long.” Deeks leaned over and kissed her quickly. “Go back to sleep.”

Kensi frowned again as he strode from the room. Deeks was squirrely on a good day, but that had been jumpy even for him. There had been times she wondered _how_ he did undercover with how jumpy he was. Now she threw back the covers and grabbed the first clothes that came to hand. Whatever Deeks was up to, she was going to follow him and find out.

 

 

 

Deeks clearly wasn’t expecting to be followed because he drove normally. Of course Deeks’s normal driving didn’t always follow rules of the road. More than once Kensi had to blow a red light or cut a corner to keep him in sight. If she’d known she was going to have to tail her partner this morning, she’d have bugged his phone. She didn’t dare call Ops in case something was actually going on that he needed protection from.

She slowed as he turned onto a residential block, clearly looking for a specific house. As he turned into one of the driveways, she pulled over a few houses away.

For a minute, he sat in the car and she wondered if he’d gotten the wrong house. Then the front door was flung open and a young child, a girl Kensi realized on a second glance, darted out of it. By the time Deeks had the car door open, the girl was halfway to the car and he managed to get out just as she threw herself at him.

The girl wrapped her arms around his waist, holding tightly to him as he attempted to move away from the car. Kensi was too far away to hear him and with his back to her, she couldn’t read his lips. The girl tipped her head back to respond to him and Deeks scooped her up, tossing her over his shoulder.

The front door swung open again before he was halfway up the walk and a dark haired woman appeared in the doorway. She crossed her arms as she watched them approach the house. Kensi read her lips as she told him, “ _Don’t drop my child, Martin._ ”

Whatever he said in reply was lost to Kensi, but the woman shook her head in response. A moment later, the phone next to Kensi rang. “Hello,” she answered, still watching Deeks.

“Hey,” Deeks responded. Kensi watched as he swung the girl around, using one hand since the other one was now holding the phone, and set her on the ground.

“Are you going to be much longer with the department?” she questioned.

“Yeah, so I may have lied about that,” he said. “Which you know since you followed me. Why don’t you join us and you can meet… well, join us and I’ll try to explain.”

“I’m not going to like this, am I?” she asked.

“Probably not all of it, no,” he admitted.

She considered it for a minute before asking, “But I’m not going to get any answers if I don’t join you?”

He didn’t reply, but simply looked in the direction of the car, the non-answer clearly her answer.

“I’ll be there in a few minutes,” she told him.

 

 

 

 

He was waiting on the walkway when she pulled up in front of the house, the girl swinging his arm aimlessly. As Kensi got out of her SUV, he took ahold of the girl’s other hand, swinging her around in a circle. Her cheerful giggles rang out across the yard, making Kensi smile involuntarily as she came around the side of the vehicle. Deeks set her back on the ground, tugging gently on her blonde ponytail. “Why don’t you go into the house with your mom?” he suggested.

 

She looked up at him. “I want to stay with you.”

“I won’t be long, Cricket. I just need to take to my friend for a minute.”

 

“You’re not gonna leave, right?”

“I won’t leave until I’ve come in and talked with you. Your mom called me to come over and I said I would,” Deeks assure her. “Go on now.”

The girl considered him for a minute, before throwing her arms around his waist. Deeks hugged her back and sent her on her way towards the house. When he turned back towards Kensi, she was staring at him with her arms crossed over her chest. “I think I’m beginning to see why I’m not going to like this.”

“Did you happen to notice how old she is?” Deeks asked.

“You know I’m not good with guessing ages on kids,” Kensi replied.

“Well, she’s ten. Which means she was born long before I met you.”

“Who is she, Deeks?” Kensi asked point blank.

“She’s mine.”

“Your…” Kensi stopped as her brain caught up to his words. “Are you serious?”

“Why is that difficult to believe?”

“I’m not saying it is. I just…” Kensi paused. “I’m trying to decide if I should be mad at you for not telling me. Or if I should be wondering why you didn’t feel you should tell me.”

Deeks shoved his hands into his pockets. “Toni is someone I’ve always had to protect. I _don’t_ tell people about her. It was never safe for her. So honestly I didn’t think about it.”

Kensi considered his words. She was still upset at the secrets he had been keeping from her, but she could begin to understand. “Why did you come today? Obviously you suspected that I’d follow you.”

The door creaked open behind them and a blue eye peeked out, a brown curl escaping from the ponytail that had bound it back. Deeks motioned for Kensi to be quiet as he waited for the door to shut again. When it didn’t, he said, loudly enough for the spy to hear, “I came because I told Toni I’d always come if she needed me.”

“Explain something to me,” Kensi said. “Which one is Toni?”

“Why don’t you come and meet her?” Deeks answered.

Kensi sighed, but followed him into the house.

As soon as they entered, the little girl threw herself at Deeks, wrapping her arms around his waist again. He cradled the back of her head, looking at Kensi as he said, “This is Toni, my Cricket.” Nudging the girl, he said, “Cricket, this is my friend, Kensi.”

Pulling her face away from where it was buried against Deeks’s stomach, Toni smiled sunnily at Kensi. “Hi,” she said almost shyly.

“So you prefer Toni to Antonia?” Kensi asked.

“No?” Toni said. “My name is Toni.”

Deeks tugged on Toni’s curls and smiled at Kensi. “Her real name is actually Toni. Ashley and I…”  
“Couldn’t agree on anything so she’s actually named after an old friend of mine,” the dark haired woman from earlier joined the conversation. “Hi.” She held her hand out to Kensi. “Ashley Higgins.”

“Ah. Kensi Blye,” Kensi answered.

“I know,” Ashley answered. “Toni. Go finish up, please.”

“All right, Mom.” Toni squeezed Deeks’s waist one last time before dashing off.

“Okay, I’m here, Ashley,” Deeks said as soon as the little girl was out of earshot. “What did you want?”

“I’m not discussing this with you in front of your _friend_ ,” Ashley responded.

“Considering I didn’t even know you or…” Kensi paused as she tried to figure out how to refer to the cheerful little girl that had just run from the room. “Toni existed until five minutes ago, if anyone has the right to be upset, I don’t think it’s you. Especially considering you apparently know who I am.” She glared at Ashley. “I really don’t care how you feel about me. Don’t screw with Deeks or his relationship with his little girl because whether he told me about her or not, she’s obviously important to him.”

Deeks grinned, resisting the urge to crow _that’s my girl_ as Kensi practically eviscerated Ashley.

“And if your problem is that I’m here,” Kensi said, finally winding down. “Then I can walk out that door right now. But only if Deeks wants me to.”

“Whatever you wanted to talk to me about, you can say in front of Kensi. Especially since it’s going to affect her most likely,” Deeks said.

“Why don’t you come into the living room then?” Ashley suggested, clearly giving up on the idea of speaking to Deeks alone.

Kensi’s eyes darted around as they followed Ashley into the other room. It was obvious a child lived in the house with the scattering of toys and signs of half-folded clothes laying around. Still it was well-cared for and lived-in, but not unclean.

Ashley waited until Deeks had guided Kensi towards a chair, perching next to her on the arm. Taking her own seat on the couch, Ashley said, “I wanted to talk to you about Toni.”

“I assumed that since you said on the phone this was about our daughter,” Deeks replied. “Is she alright? Her grades were fine when I checked them the other day.”

“I want you to take her,” Ashley said.

“For the weekend? That’s fine. It’ll be nice to spend an extended amount of time with her and she can get to know Kensi,” Deeks agreed.

“No. I want you to _take_ her. And keep her. For…” Ashley shrugged. “I don’t know. For now.”

“What? No. I can’t do that. My job,” Deeks started. He shook his head. “Ashley, I can’t just drop everything and take her.”

“She’s your _daughter_ , Martin,” Ashley hissed.

“And you agreed that you would keep her. I’ve been helping, but I can’t just drop everything and take her. I’m a _cop_ , Ashley. My job...”

“Why do you want Deeks to take her all of a sudden?” Kensi broke in. “If you agreed that you would keep her…”

Ashley frowned. “I don’t think it’s any of your business.”

“It is my business if Deeks is taking her home. Why are you so eager for him to take her?”

“Fine,” Ashley huffed. “I’ve been seeing this guy.”

“Clayton,” Deeks broke in.

“Yes,” she confirmed. “And he’s not happy about having Toni around all the time.”

Deeks leaned closer to Kensi, speaking in a low voice, “I’d rather take Toni with us and figure out how to juggle our schedules later than have her where she’s not wanted.”

Kensi nodded, agreeing. She might not know the little girl, but she couldn’t bear to see anyone that young left where she wasn’t wanted. “We’ll deal with it,” she agreed.

“Fine. We’ll… I’ll… take her, but you’re not going to get her back that easily. You don’t just get to dump her when you don’t want her, Ashley.”

“Fine, Martin. Just take her with you today.” Ashley leaned back, yelling, “TO-NI!”

There was a bump and a muffled thump, then thudding feet running down the hall. A minute later, Toni ran into the living room. “Yeah, Mom?”

“Is that how you speak to your mother?” Deeks asked.

“Sorry. Yes, Mom?” Toni asked.

“You’re going with your dad and his friend for a while,” Ashley told her. “So pack most of your clothes.”

Kensi got up, patting Deeks on the knee. “Toni, is it okay if I help you? I’m really good at packing.”

Toni glanced at Deeks before nodding at Kensi. “Yeah. Yes,” she corrected herself.

“If your relationship is more important to you then your child,” Deeks started as he got to his feet, “you need to rethink your priorities.”

“Your career was more important to you than your child,” Ashley shot back.

“Being able to support my child was important to me. I made my decision based on that and if I have to step back for what’s good for Toni, I will. We’ll be back for whatever we can’t take today.”

It took a few trips, but they soon had all of Toni’s most important clothes, books, and toys packed between their two cars. Deeks stopped Kensi as she prepared to get into her SUV. “Thanks for backing me up in there,” he said. “I know this wasn’t exactly what you had planned.”

“How could you leave your daughter with that woman? How could you get involved with that woman in the first place?” Kensi asked.

Deeks ran a hand through his hair, ruffling it. “Would you believe me if I said she wasn’t always like that?”

“I would hope so.” She motioned to the car. “Let’s get her back to the house and get her settled in. Oh, and Deeks? You get to tell Hetty.”

His groan followed her back to her car.

Kensi sat in the car for a minute, watching as Deeks stood by his, waiting for Toni to clamber into the backseat and buckle up. He didn’t shut the door or walk away until she was settled. And then he leaned in, clearly pressing a kiss to the top of her head before shutting the door.

Reaching over, Kensi pressed the speed dial, watching as he jumped, bobbled his own phone, and then answered it without looking, “Deeks.”

“I’m still mad at you,” she started.

“Yeah. I um figured that when you said I had to tell Hetty.”

“It’s a big surprise,” she continued. “And you know… after the entire _jail_ thing…”

Deeks groaned. “I thought we weren’t going to talk about that.”

“You’re still hiding something, but I’m not going to push. I told you that.” Kensi looked through the windshield at him. “Listen to me.”

“I always do.”

“That’s debatable. But listen. It’s a surprise. This. Toni. She’s a surprise. But we’ll figure it out. And Deeks. She’s you. She’s yours. How could you think I’m not going to fall in love with her?”

“Thanks, Kensi.”

“I was serious though. _You’re_ telling Hetty.”

“I’ll call her once we get Toni back to my place. Mom.”

“What?” Kensi frowned at his change in subject.

“I have to let Mom know I have Toni.”

“I’ll call your mom while you get Toni settled. But Hetty. And who knows, maybe she has an idea for a nanny. I don’t know that I’m too thrilled with the idea of just leaving her with anyone.”

Deeks turned so she could see his smile even from the distance. “Kensi. Are you getting attached already?”

“Get in the car, Deeks.”


End file.
